


sandcastle

by brandywine421



Category: Daredevil (TV), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2019-10-24 14:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17706077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brandywine421/pseuds/brandywine421
Summary: She listened to Peter's chatter with her usual attention - one ear open for trigger words - but she couldn't stop thinking.She had a soulmate.  A living, breathing - fuck-up of a man - was her match.  She had a match after all this time - after loving and losing her one true love - no mystic soulmark would change that - after all that, she still had a partner.  A match.She could never tell Peter - he would never forgive her.  He had Ben on a pedestal too high for her to ever consider bringing in a replacement.Matt would never replace Ben - but he was alive and within her reach.  Hermatch.





	1. muffin top

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I have a short attention span so here's a Matt/May soulmate thing until I remember what else I'm supposed to be finishing!
> 
> Hi!

"Excuse me," a man's deep voice broke through May's momentary brain freeze at the sight of the cafe's menu. She was blocking the sidewalk and turned to apologize, but got distracted by the man's neatly fitted suit and confident swagger. The sunglasses and white cane reminded her that she was in the way.

"Sorry, lost myself for a moment," she said, stepping aside. No glint of a ring, get it together, May.

"Are they on the kale kick again?" he asked in that gravelly voice. _God_ , she was acting like Peter and this guy couldn't even see her.

"There's a shortage and they're sorry for the inconvenience," May managed to reply.

He smiled, maneuvering to catch the opening door and hold it for her. "Like that's an inconvenience, it's a gift."

"I take it you're not a fan of superfoods," she laughed, stepping into the bustling dining room.

"I like a bit of green as much as the next guy, but there's a line," he said in complete seriousness.

Janice cleared her throat from behind the counter, putting her hands on her hips. "Mr. Murdock wasn't a fan of our kale ice cream - but I stand by the fact that he didn't *have* to try it."

"You took it too far, Janice. You know you did," Murdock replied.

The owner shooed him to the side and May ordered the chai tea her book club had recommended for 'emotional health and prosperity' or something equally inspiring.

Mr. Murdock was pretty inspiring, leaning against the counter with an easy grace as another clerk neatly filled a large bag with packaged foods.

"He comes by three times a week to pick up muffins for kids with allergies. He volunteers at an orphanage across town," Janice confided to May with a wink. "Doesn't hurt to look when he can't tell we're looking, right?"

The small quirk on Murdock's lips made her think he definitely knew they were looking.

"The museum could use a deal like that for summer programs," May said, wishing she had her cards with her.

Janice lit up. "Let me know, we'll have to work out the price scale. He's our lawyer and we're paying off some fees with his orders."

"Our firm is proud to accept payment in all kinds of currency - except kale," Murdock said with the bag on the arm he wasn't tapping with.

She dropped a ten on the counter and tried not to trip over her own feet. "Let me get the door."

He flashed a smile with a glint of teeth and her heart fluttered.

There was something about this man but it wasn't until he'd placed the bag in the back of the waiting taxi and turned to thank her that she processed that it was more than a harmless flirtation. He seemed to sense it, too and when he offered a handshake she found herself holding her breath.

It wasn't a 'spark' or a flash of images like they showed in the movies - it was a shared exhale - a _bloom_ of warmth - salty and floral.  A _match_.  Soulmatch.  Just like on Dateline.

" _Oh_ ," she said.

"Oh. That's - _wow_." He didn't let go of her hand. " _Oh_."

"Can - I share your cab?" she blurted out.

He nodded blankly. "Yeah, we should talk. You're May."

"And you're Matt," she realized. Soulmatches weren't real, but _wow_. She knew this man.

 

* * *

 


	2. kissimmee

  
May wasn't into science or 'smart' stuff and wouldn't be able to find the Nat Geo or Space channel on the TV like Peter without a very good reason - but she had a weakness for Dateline _(20/20 in a pinch)_.

So she'd seen the Dateline special from a few years back with the story of Ginger and Ray from Florida - retirees from opposite sides of the country with families and full lives - and the golf cart accident that made international news. Ginger, 74 and Ray, 88 were the first verified Soul-matches since 1957.

The Soul-Match phenomenon had been documented for centuries before disappearing from society. The incredibly rare 'soulmate' gene was thought to be extinct until Ginger and Ray went day-drinking at the golf course.

None of their living relatives had the genetic marker and even with Ginger and Ray's miracle meeting - it was too rare of a thing for her to have taken a huge interest in apart from Dateline and its reruns.

But she was holding hands with a blind stranger outside of a church in Hell's Kitchen. He should be a stranger, anyway, they haven't said much since the cab ride, but personal contact was a _revelation_.

Matt was a lawyer from Hell's Kitchen - she learned that from Janice - but he was also an orphan, a fighter, a hero - and she learned that from holding hands.

Daredevil was a sillier name than 'Spider-Man' unless he'd been bitten by Satan or something - but the point she kept coming back to was that neither of them could ever be on Dateline without calling unwanted attention to their secrets.

She didn't think Matt knew from the link that her nephew was Spider-Man because she didn't know anything about the faceless cluster of white hot images that represented his 'family' through the bond - but she knew Matt's secret because it was his and she knew him.

"We should get this checked," he said, his voice soft.

"Should we? I don't want to make the news and I volunteer at enough hospitals to not trust that whole confidentiality stuff for something like this," she replied.

"Hospitals," he scoffed. "Let's go inside."

This church felt like an anchor for him so she followed his lead for now.

 

* * *

 


	3. adulting

"I'm what a lot of people call a walking disaster, and it definitely applies to my history with women, and men, on occasion," he conceded, absently tracing her palm-lines in a tantalizing sensation through the new connection.

"So you're the guy everyone's mother warns them about?" she asked.

"Yeah. I very rarely have my shit together," he whispered. "I might look nice on paper, check all the compatibility boxes - but I'm trying to be honest. The only person I ever considered making a life with is dead. I've hurt everyone I've ever loved."

That's honest. "Because of your cosplay?"

He smiled and laughed softly, sadly. "You could say that."

"I'm not looking for a new husband and I'm never going to be a damsel in distress for your enemies," she replied. Peter would never let that happen, she had double the coverage now.

He sketched a circle in her palm and it hummed against her senses. "This is important. We're lucky," he whispered.

"Yeah. Let's not ignore it," she replied. "We'll take it slow, see where it goes." She glanced up when a Sister approached but the nun had steely eyes locked on Matt.

"Matthew."

He straightened, but didn't stiffen and she filed it away. He was comfortable with her. "Sister Maggie. Thanks for - "

She swatted at him and turned to May with a fond smile. "Hello, are you a friend of Matthew's?"

"As of a few hours ago, yes," she replied.

Matt kept his voice low. "We need a confidential test."

"After a few _hours_? I'm afraid that's not how pregnancy tests work," she replied dryly.

May smiled. "They probably won't have one, the case I saw on Dateline had to have their samples sent to France."

Sister Maggie inhaled sharply. " _Oh_. Come with me, I'll have to find the Reverend Mother to unlock the cabinet. It's not a fancy lab test, but it'll activate a mark if there's a match."

"And confidential?" May asked.

The nun snickered and Matt flushed. "That's not a problem. We've been keeping Matthew's secrets for decades."

"Too soon," Matt muttered but the nun patted his shoulder and nudged him to his feet.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" she asked him before turning to May. "It's an unusual request."

Matt answered before she had to. "I was flirting with her at the muffin place and we touched when I was slipping her my number."

She boggled at him. "You can't say that to a nun." She didn't think so, anyway.

Maggie smiled at her, polite but with a glint of warning she couldn't interpret. "You can speak freely. What happened when you made physical contact?"

"Something new," May replied. "Flowers and sunshine and - salt."

"Beach sand," Matt nodded firmly with that half-smile.

Maggie ushered them inside a small office. "Wait here."

Matt sat down on a cushioned bench and she joined him. "I grew up here, so I know my way around."

She shouldn't be relieved but it explained a lot. "That's good to know, I'd hate to think you talk about your dating habits with nuns on the regular."

"Sister Maggie's a special case. Her story's not mine to tell," he added.

 

* * *

 

 


	4. chirp

  
She listened to Peter's chatter with her usual attention - one ear open for trigger words - but she couldn't stop thinking.

She had a soulmate. A living, breathing - fuck-up of a man - was her match. She had a match after all this time - after loving and losing her one true love - no mystic soulmark would change that - after all that, she still had a partner. A match.

"Aunt May?"

She could never tell him - Peter would never forgive her. He had Ben on a pedestal too high for her to ever consider bringing in a replacement.

Matt would never replace Ben - he'd openly said he wouldn't be able to date her - but he was alive and within her reach. Her match.

Peter wrapped his thin fingers around both her wrists and stared at her with wide eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, I'm a little distracted, nothing's wrong," she said.

He shook his head, not blinking. "I totally don't believe you. Tell me, it's your turn to vent - what's wrong?"

She had to come up with something, so she stuck to the truth. "I think I'm going to start volunteering at a new place and you reminded me I need to Google some directions. It's new, there's nothing wrong with 'new', right?"

He didn't seem to fully believe her but she held up her phone with the orphanage's webpage still onscreen and he released her, flushing. "Sorry."

"You don't have to worry about me. Finish your story, what happened with Ned and the puffin?"

She could never tell him about Matt, at least not until she spent more than an afternoon with him.

 

 


	5. oops

  
"Peter, honey, this is Matt Murdock," May said, crossing her fingers that this wouldn't blow up in her face - but it had been a month and she couldn't hide it anymore.  

Peter was wearing Interview-appropriate clothes and had his best 'innocent child, totally not Spider-Man' smile on his face as he offered his hand. He hesitated at the sight of the cane and glasses and gave May a slightly betrayed look. "Hi, nice to meet you."

Matt tilted his head, the tic that she'd figured out meant he was listening to something he shouldn't be able to hear. "This is problematic." Huh.

She started to ask what was wrong but Peter's face flashed with sudden recognition and he gasped. "No way."

Matt put his stick aside and sighed softly. "May, I swear I didn't know."

"You're blind? No way. Um, Aunt May - "

"I'm assuming Daredevil knows Spider-Man?" she asked, glancing between them.

"In the mask, sure, but the name thing is new," Peter said quietly. "You're really blind?"

"You're really sixteen?" Matt replied.

May slid her hand around Matt's elbow with a rush of annoyed fondness. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you when you told me your thing."

"It wasn't your secret to tell," Matt said, frowning at her. "But it does explain why you were so open to the idea of my night work."

Peter reared back on his heels with a slow inhale. He was upset. "Daredevil, can you please go outside and listen to traffic for a few minutes?"

Matt gave her a quick hug. "Call me later."

"Don't go," she said, needing to salvage the failed introductions.

"Our agreement stands, but your family always comes first," he murmured in her ear before making a quick exit.

"Aunt May - " Peter started.

She shook off her disappointment and stepped out of her heels. "I need to turn off the oven."

"You can't date Daredevil - how do you even know him?"

"I don't know what I was thinking," she said as he followed her into the kitchen. So much for showing off her Food Network practice. "And we're not dating, you made that very clear with your little 'show'," she gestured with a wiggle of her fingers.

She took the pasta from the oven and turned off all the buttons she could find and took a breath before she turned to own up to her mistake to Peter.

"I shouldn't have brought him here, I should have told you first," May said. She pushed up her sleeve to show the mark on her inner elbow. "Validated soul-match."

He gasped and reached out to look closer and she let him try to smudge it off. "I didn't think - but - "

"It hasn't happened in decades, the nuns told us when they ran the test," May said. "But - it happened and he's - already important to me, but not more important than you. I didn't know you hated Daredevil."

"I don't - he was my friend. He's been teaching me some moves and helping me with some of the bigger gangs when they overlap into his territory," Peter said. "I don't hate him but I don't want you dating him. He's dangerous."

"Then you shouldn't be training with him," May sighed. She started picking up the good china and swapping it out. "And we're not dating. He won't agree to that - told me himself that it was too dangerous. I figured since my nephew was Spider-Man I could handle it - I should have talked to you first. I'm sorry. Go change while I finish setting the table."

"If he's your match - " Peter hesitated.

"We have a plan, it's nothing for you to worry about," she said.

"No. I messed up, I'll go get him - "

She caught his arm. "No, let him go. We've got to eat this lasagna and report back and I'm not eating through this much organic crap by myself."

"I'm sorry. You wanted me to meet him because he's important to you and I ruined it," Peter said.

"Since you already knew him, it was useless anyway. I didn't know you went to Hell's Kitchen on the regular," she said.

"He's, kind of, a widower too," Peter said finally. "Says he's cursed and the reason he can't give me dating advice is because he's a crappy boyfriend. He's probably at church praying about it right now." He leaned his head on his folded arms and blinked at her.

"I think she was a ninja," May said. "I thought - maybe I would understand more about why you both run around in suits after dark - but he's working on a whole different set of ethics. I don't know if you should be training with him."

"Too late. He, kind of, counts as a chaperone now, doesn't he?" Peter asked, perking up. "He doesn't like Mr. Stark's suit, he says it makes me 'too dependent on outside input' - which totally makes sense with the blind thing. I know his hearing's better than mine, but - I'm so sorry, Aunt May."

"You can pay it forward by not mentioning this failure of a night to anyone."

"Isn't a soul-match supposed to be this huge life-changing thing?"

"We're figuring it out. Our lives are complicated but - he's a good friend."

Peter surveyed her. "Can you read his mind or is it an empathic link where you get his feelings - because he's never come off as a 'happy' guy. You aren't going to feel his pain are you?"

"I don't think it works like that. I can tell, slightly, how he's feeling. He likes you, as soon as he recognized you I could sense that. When he calls, I can tell if he's wound up - usually after work - or relaxed, like after he's been out beating up bad guys - but it's through the link, not necessarily what he says."

"So you just got an instant BFF. His current BFF's not going to like that," Peter said.

She laughed. "I've been warned, but probably not for the reasons you're thinking of."

"But you do like him. You do want to date him, don't you?" Peter asked, still watching her closely.

"His last girlfriend died in his arms, got resurrected long enough die in his arms again and is possibly hiding in Bangkok training ninja assassins at last update," May said flatly. "Does that sound like a man I should want to date, Peter?"

He hesitated. "I'm going to retract my question."

"I didn't want him to know about Spider-man," she admitted.

"That part's actually okay," Peter shrugged. "I've offered to show my face to him before, exchange names or whatever but he said there's at least a year long waiting period for approval."

"Sounds like something he would say."

"He promised to write me a letter of recommendation for college when we get to that point, though. He's been giving me tips on financial aid and how not to screw up my credit."

That didn't sound dangerous, but it also sounded like her job. "Does that count as training?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, but he mentioned once that he got scholarships for college so he could get into grad school or something so he lets me ask him questions. What does he do in real life?"

"His mother hates me," she blurted out.

"What? Why?"

"I don't think she trusts me with his alter ego," May admitted. "She thinks I'm too 'soft'."

"I thought his mother was dead," Peter replied, frowning in confusion.

May didn't want him to think Matt was a liar in whatever 'training' capacity they had going on. "She's a nun. She was in the orphanage where he grew up and never told him. Their relationship is a little like walking on glass eggshells."

He immediately relaxed. "That's why she doesn't like you. You're coming between her and her kid."

"Does that have anything to do with - "

He scoffed. "No. It would be fine for you to date a lawyer or something - but Double D beats mobsters up with sticks and fists on a regular basis, which isn't the best profile."

"He's a lawyer," May said.

Peter threw up his hands.

* * *

 


	6. snip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ♥

 

  
She gasped awake, not sure what brought her out of her dreamless sleep - it only took two breaths to realize - the bond was gone. Was Matt in trouble? Was he - God, no - she couldn't think like that - she couldn't think - she grabbed for her phone and dialed - wait. She had to think.

She dialed Peter, praying that he was training tonight and not safe in bed - God, what was wrong with her? But she'd fallen asleep with Matt's warm link, the warmth of affection that he only got around Peter.

"Oh, _shit_ , I mean - hey, Aunt May, are you - Matt wants to know if you're all right so it's totally fine you called."

Two more breaths. "Is he all right? The bond's - "

"May," Matt's low voice didn't soothe her nerves the way the bond did but it was something. "I closed it, I thought - are you in pain?"

"No, are you?" she realized what he wasn't saying.

"Oh yeah," he smiled but it only made the lack of him more profound. "Once your nephew gets me up the stairs, I'll - "

"Open it. We don't get physical pain - open it, Matt. You're an asshole." The bond bloomed - regret and ebbing panic - hurt, but not pain - he was upset. "What - "

"Talk to Peter, I need to get my keys."

Peter's voice was slightly less frantic than when he answered but she was already wondering how fast she could get across town. "It's my fault, he took a hit meant for me - even though I have the healing thing and he doesn't and - I yelled at him, a lot, before I saw the blood."

"I'm coming - "

"Oh, God no, we all have to be up too early tomorrow for that. Go back to sleep, I'll make him call you when I leave."

Like hell. The bond flooded her with - amusement - that asshole. "Peter - "

"Seriously, this is a normal Tuesday except I'm the one reminding you about curfew."

 

 


	7. meow

 

 

"Oh wow, you've got a kid? Are you sure you want him around Matt?" The blonde that answered the door didn't hide her shock and Peter took the initiative and didn't hide his snicker, not even when May glared at him.

She had a vague wave of fondness from Matt inside so she knew it was the right place, but the sisterly warmth for the blonde had a tinge of something else underneath. May wondered if he felt that way about all his exes.

"I'm so sorry about Karen, she had way too much coffee getting ready for this. I'm Foggy, please ignore her."

Peter shook the genial man's hand with a bright grin. "This is already going better than when we had Matt over to our house."

Foggy laughed and waved them into the house. May resolutely did not judge Karen for her height in bare feet, not even when she saw the discarded designer heels in the corner. She'd never be able to go barefoot with this woman around.

"We're still in shock that he invited us to meet you - " Karen picked up. "Usually we have to harass him for weeks - "

Matt made a nagging gesture from the kitchen, cutting it off when Karen turned toward him. "Hi, May, Peter. Did you find the place okay?"

She was glad Peter and Matt made peace on their own - it was rare for Peter to actually interact with the men she dared bringing home but he hip-checked Matt and snatched his spoon to taste what he was cooking.

It spurred Matt into a quick press of his mouth to her cheek and she would have been disappointed if she didn't see him giving Karen and Foggy the middle finger behind her back. "They're making me want to say words that I shouldn't around your nephew, I'm so sorry."

"Family comes first," she shrugged. "They're your family. I was hoping they'd be nicer than your mom."

"My mom is totally nice," Matt frowned.

Foggy surprised her with a sudden hug. "Oh my God, May, you're now my favorite - nobody else believes me - "

Karen made a dramatic gesture. "Don't get him started on Sister Maggie, he's totally biased. And she said she likes you."

"She did?" May and Matt asked together.

"She doesn't _hate_ you. She thinks you're too smart for him," Karen shrugged.

"Well, she's not wrong," Peter laughed.

"I thought you said we were friends again," Matt protested. "But yeah, she's not wrong."

 

**Author's Note:**

> I watch a lot of Dateline and am totally picturing Keith Morrison sitting down with Matt and May to politely question them about their ♥.


End file.
